Friday, December 03, 2004

Google Search: Mohsen Noorbakhsh: "ATHENS (UPI) -- The Iranian Parliament Monday rejected President Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani's nominee for economy and finance minister, but
approved 22 other members of his Cabinet, Tehran radio said.
The Majlis, or Parliament, which began examining Rafsanjani's Cabinet
nominees Sunday, voted separately on each appointee in the 23-member
Cabinet.
It rejected Mohsen Noorbakhsh, whom Rafsanjani nominated as his
finance and economy minister despite criticism that Noorbakhsh's
performance during the president's first term in office was less than
satisfactory.
Hours after the Majlis vote, Rafsanjani announced the appointment of
Noorbakhsh as vice president for economic affairs, ``because of your
excellency's valuable experience...and to continue the principles and
policies of the five-year development plan.''
The other 22 members of the Cabinet received Majlis approval, the
state radio monitored in Athens said.
Rafsanjani was present in the Parliament during the debate on his
Cabinet and examination of the nominees for the 23 portfolios. The
president was required to seek a vote of confidence for his Cabinet
following his re-election June 11 for a second four-year term.
Self-exiled opponents of Iran's clerical rulers said the Majlis's
rejection of Noorbakhsh as economy minister was a slap in the face for
Rafsanjani.
The Majlis's rejection of Noorbakhsh reflected the legislature's
reaction to the protest vote against Rafsanjani himself in the
presidential election, when he received 63 percent of the popular vote,
down some 30 percentage points from the 1989 poll.
Ahmed Tavakoli, a hard-line candidate, emerged as Rafsanjani's main
rival in the election, garnering some 24 percent of the popular vote
despite minimal campaigning.
Voters in ballot-box queues told foreign reporters allowed into Iran
during the election they would vote against Rafsanjani because he failed
to keep his 1989 campaign promises to improve the economy.
Rafsanjani launched his economic reform program only months before
the June election, too late to show positive results before he was due
to face the electorate.
Noorbakhsh was widely expected to become the scapegoat for the
president's failure, and Western analysts expressed surprise that his
name reappeared on the Cabinet list that Rafsanjani presented on Aug. 8
to the Majlis for approval.
The Cabinet contained seven new faces in posts not considered of key
importance. Rafsanjani, however, won a victory of sorts in the Majlis by
retaining Ali Akbar Velayati as his foreign minister and Gholamreza
Aqazadeh as oil minister."